Kingdom of a Heart
by Enrose
Summary: Haunted by dreams of someone he doesn't know, Enri finds his world falling to darkness.  He joins Sora, Donald, and Goofy to save the worlds, but can he do it?  First fanfic!  Please R&R!  Ch. 3 up!
1. The beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own Sora, Goofy, Donald, Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Cloud, etc., or anything Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy related ( including Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy).

* * *

Light. Darkness. More Light. A stranger was fighting crawling creatures with an oversized key. Darkness again. I was falling, falling. Somebody else – this one bathed in darkness. Fighting someone else. Light flashes. A monster stands, huge, overpowering all else. It looks at me. My blood runs cold. 

I awoke, cold sweat coating my body. _It was just a dream,_ I think to myself. _Just the same, recurring dream._ I stood, taking in my surroundings. Same hand-made bed, same small wooden room as before. Light was streaming in the window, along with the sounds of a new day. Leaving my one-room self-made hut, I found that it was all the same – as it always will be. Same trees, same sand, same ocean, same ceaseless horizon, just as it was the first day, when I woke without memory, without reason, without companion. I was the sole inhabitant of my island, apart from the birds. And so, I decided to call it Enri's Island, for, after thought about myself, I decided to call myself Enri. As to why, I had as much reason as to why I awoke one bright day to find myself on this island.

I set about with my daily chores – except that they weren't so much chores, for I needed to do them or I would die – beginning with the cooking of my breakfast. All I had to eat were the fish I had caught the previous day and berries that I had found across my island, so my options were few: fish, berries, or fish with berries. I decided for the latter.

Breakfast was done quickly, for I had overslept, and was off schedule. The sooner I had my jobs done, the sooner I could have free time. I checked my fish traps I had set out the night before, restocked my berry supplies, and was soon ready to eat lunch. For lunch, I usually stayed with just the berries, since by noon I was usually on the other side of the island, which was a considerable distance from my home. Luckily, by then I was all caught up on my schedule, so I had my free time as soon as I finished my small meal.

For my free time, I usually just sat and thought, since I had already found all of the nooks and crannies of my island. However, I was unusually restless today. _There has to be more out there,_ I thought to myself. _More than this little island, all alone at sea. I wonder if I could leave this island… but how? Not by raft, it would be too risky. After all, I don't want to die in the process of going… but what other options do I have? None. Should I go?_ Thoughts such as this milled about in my mind for the rest of the day. Soon, night was falling. As I was walking back to my hut, I grew tired.

I awoke on the beach. The dream had visited me again last night, but this time it was longer. I recalled seeing an island, not much different from mine, albeit it was smaller. There were people on it, friends… why couldn't I have any friends with me on my island?

Because I had a large catch and a lot of luck finding berries the day before, I had the entire day with nothing to do except eat, so I decided to do a bit of exploring, to see if by some off chance I could find some cave I had not yet found.

I searched for well into the day, exploring old caves, searching in tunnels, checking under rocks, until at long last, I actually found one. It was small, and fairly uninteresting, save an odd door at the end that was lacking a doorknob, along with any other ways of opening it. _Odd,_ I thought, pushing it, without making a single budge. _I've never heard of a door that doesn't open – though then again, there are probably a lot of things I haven't heard about._ My attempts to open the strange door coming to no avail, I began to leave, thinking that it must be getting pretty dark out, when a creaking noise came to my ears. _It must be the door!_ Quickly spinning around, I found that nothing had changed about the door. More than slightly disappointed, I left.

Sure enough, when I came out of the cave, the sky had already filled with stars. However late it was, I found that I wasn't tired, even though I would normally be asleep by this time. Maybe it was the discovery of the door, or dislike of my dreams, I could not tell, but even when I returned to my hut and lay down on my bed, eyes closed, I found that sleep would not come. _Oh well, guess I'd better not waste this time,_ I thought, so decide to sit by the surf and watch the stars.

I'd never been up this late before, so I never knew that there were _so many_ of them. I noticed that they formed many patterns – dragons, bears, people – but one stood out above the others. It was of three people, one of whom I saw in my dreams. _Maybe they _are_ real_. A blue flash streaked across the sky, a beautiful phenomenon I had never witnessed before. _A shooting star!_ Behind its streak, the stars dimmed for a period, and then returned to their original brilliance. _That's odd, _I thought, _why would they dim? Maybe it's just because the shooting star was so bright._ Another shooting star – or perhaps the same one? – streaked across the sky, again followed by the cloud of darkness. I stood. The star flew overhead once more, but this time stopped halfway. The darkness surrounded it, but was quickly dispersed by a wave of light. _What was that? Did the star just destroy the darkness?_ My thoughts were soon interrupted when the star suddenly shot straight down, colliding with the water and creating a huge splash. I rushed up to the spot, only to find it empty. "Nothing? What was the star, then?" I wondered aloud. I waited for a minute, and when nothing surfaced, I left. _I must be seeing things._ A sudden rushing noise caught my ears. Spinning around, I saw a pillar of darkness descending from the sky, rushing straight at me. Fleeing the spot, I looked back to see it wasn't just one form, but many, many creatures, the ones from my dream, all gathered in the masses to form this strange pillar of darkness, all of their glowing eyes peering out from the gloom.


	2. New light

I gasped. _The dreams _are_ real! But how? I've never seen these things before my dreams. How could I have dreamed about something real that I've never seen before?_ By now the mass of monsters had reached the water, which instantly turned into a dark purple color on contact.

"Wha…!" I gasped. _These things – what are they?_ I ran. I ran as if my life depended on it – which it probably did. I quickly glanced behind me to see that they were chasing me. _What do they want?_ I mentally asked myself. Suddenly one of the creatures of darkness came up out of the ground just ahead of me. Without pausing to think, I threw up my hand to push it out of the way, and was startled when a beam of light flew out of my palm and hit it square between the eyes. _What was that?_ The creature seemed to fade away, leaving two small golden orbs and a small green red-coated one behind it. When I neared these as I ran, the gold ones flew into my pocket, but the green one seemed to meld into me. _What is going on? I'm attacked by things that drop weird orbs that fly around into people? What's happening?_ My thoughts were broken when a few more popped up out of the ground in my path, which I quickly blasted with my strange new power. _Just another weird thing to go with the weirdness going on._ Dashing for my hut, I soon realized that I wouldn't be safe there. My suspicions were confirmed when more darkness creatures came out, blocking my path. I quickly changed route to the other side of the island. Suddenly remembering the new cave, I headed there.

Finding the way unblocked by the dark creatures, I jumped down the hole to find the door slightly opened. I threw it open just to be blasted by an enormous amount of light. I was caught off guard and suddenly blinded, but remembering my situation, I jumped in and slammed the door shut behind me.

I was falling. Light surrounded me, filled me, was me. All sense of time, place, and being was lost. I was the light. The light was me. There was nothing else.

I don't know how long I was in there, but when I remembered myself, I was lying on cold stone. I opened my eyes, and found that, after all this time, something had changed. I was no longer on my island. In fact, I don't even know where I was, except that I was cold. A poster hanging by my head read, "Welcome to Traverse Town." _Traverse Town… I wonder where that is. No, duh, it's where I am._ Standing up, I took in my surroundings. Houses lined each side of the dark alleyway I had awoken in, which abruptly turned to the right a few paces off. Finding nothing better to do, I followed the path, to find myself in a large square with neon lights covering the walls. "Hmm… this is new," I muttered to myself, because as far as I can recall, I've never been in a big city before.

_I wonder what I can do with my new powers. It's probably best if I do it somewhere secret, though._ I took a quick look around before I returned to the alley where I awoke, which was still deserted.

_Okay… how did I do it...?_ I thought, holding my hand palm out with no success. _Hmm…_ I focused my mind, trying to will the beam of light to emerge, but nothing happened. _Okay…_ Suddenly, I felt energy surge through me, coming from what felt like my very soul. The beam fired from my hand, bounced off the ground, and hit a wall, leaving a dent in both. _Cool!_ I thought. _I wonder what else I can do with it._ I tried imitating the energy flow, with great success. Spheres of energy formed in my open hands, as if waiting for commands. _Well, I'll give them one. How about… cold._ Suddenly the spheres of energy froze over, forming balls of ice. _Hmm…_ Suddenly an idea struck me. _What about that key from my dream?_ I pictured it in my mind, willing the key to happen. Soon, the spheres of ice returned to their energy roots, which began forming tendrils towards each other. Soon, I was holding a large brass-colored key that was almost as big as me.

_Whoa,_ I thought. I swung it about a bit, and found that it fit my hand perfectly. _Neat. Let's see…_ I used my power again, this time in a different way. Soon, I found that I could make objects float, including the key I had just made, which tended to want to spin a bit.

Footsteps echoed from the entrance of the alley. Quickly looking around, I dove behind a box just in time, for some people had entered.

"This place brings back memories," said one. Who, I could not see for fear of being seen myself.

"Yeah, this is where we met you, Sora," another replied in a funny sounding voice.

"Yeah. Odd that it disappeared for a while though," said the first, who I now identified as Sora.

"Probably because we saved all of the worlds from the Heartless," said another in a stuffy-sounding voice.

_Heartless? What are they?_ I thought to myself. Hearing them approaching, I quickly retreated farther into the corner.

They continued talking, and I soon found that they were Sora, Donald and Goofy – Goofy was the one with the funny voice, and Donald was the stuffy one. As they passed my hiding spot, I was startled to find that Goofy resembled a dog, and that Donald was a duck, who was wearing a beret. I gasped. _They're the ones from my dream!_

I think one of them heard me – Donald. Luckily for me, I was deeply hidden in the corner, so he didn't see me. I think. He definitely looked unconvinced, but at least he began walking again. Struck by a sudden idea, I reached out with my mind. Success! I could definitely feel Sora's mind, along with Donald's and Goofy's. Emboldened by success, I tried connecting. _Hello, _I projected.

"What did you say?" asked Sora.

"I didn't say anything," replied Donald.

"Me neither," responded Goofy.

"Odd," said Sora, slightly confused.

_Yes! _I thought to myself. Spurred on further by my success, I tried to create an image of myself – a "shadow", if you please. I tried many things, ranging from attempting to manipulate air into a solid form, which resulted in a small breeze, to trying to make a bundle of twigs dance. Unfortunately, they preferred lying on the ground. On the verge of giving up, I remembered the shadow-creatures that had attacked me. With that in mind, I tried to make a shadow-creature me from the darkness of the alley. Soon, a "me" rose from the ground, but pitch black. However, I was in control of it.

Forgetting about the visitors, I had my shadow run around, do cartwheels, back flips, all of it. Unfortunately, at that moment, Donald turned around, probably to see if he had heard something real.

"Heartless!" he shouted, and Sora and Goofy, quickly turned around.

"I'll take care of it," said Sora, who was now holding a large key that had materialized out of thin air. He charged at my shadow.

_Ack!_ I thought, startled by this sudden aggression. Mind racing, I decided to form a shadow-giant-key that resembled Sora's, save the black appearance. Sora halted. _Yes! Go Sora-stopping key!_

"How does a Heartless have a keyblade?" Goofy asked no one in particular. They all seemed much warier now.

"I don't know," Sora replied, and began attacking. He unleashed combos of attacks of all sorts, some of them of the power I had recently discovered in myself. I tried to command my shadow in all sorts of ways to defend itself, but it wasn't long before Sora had struck it, and it only took that one hit to make my shadow fade back into nothingness.

"Heartless with keyblades… that's bad news, guys. Only good for us it wasn't too powerful."

"Yeah," responded Goofy.

_Heartless,_ I thought. _I wonder if those are what attacked my island?_ The idea seemed a reasonable one, if Heartless are supposed to be hostile, and that the 'shadow' I had created was made to resemble one. Deciding to follow these people from my dreams to see if I could find out more, I flipped my hood over my head.

Luckily it wasn't long before they set off again, so soon I was following them across alleys, down streets, and finally to a glowing circle on the ground. Along the way, they didn't say anything I found of interest.

"We should tell the King about this," Sora told his companions. "I'm sure he'd want to know about Heartless with keyblades running around."

The others agreed, and soon they all stepped into the sphere. Suddenly, Donald looked straight at me.

"Who's that?" he asked Sora and Goofy.

"Organization XIII! I thought that we had gotten rid of them all," Sora replied, who soon had his keyblade in hand.

_Uh-oh. They don't look like they want to be friends with me anytime soon, _I thought, and quickly ran off to the nearest escape route. Throwing a glance over my shoulder, I saw Sora _gliding through the air_ at amazing speeds toward me. Taking the hint, I tried to do the same, but to no success. _Come on, come on, you can do this!_ I told myself. I leaped off a ledge, spread my arms, and began to glide.

However, I barely flew a few inches before I fell flat on my face. I felt tired, mentally. Moaning, I got up and ran, but I didn't get very far before Sora landed right in front of me.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Umm…" I mumbled.

"Tell us!" demanded Donald, who had run up behind me. "What is Organization XIII doing here?"

I looked to my sides, but the trio had already surrounded me, cutting off my escape. However, by this time my mind felt somewhat refreshed. Getting an idea, I looked up, and began flying.

Sora, however, was quick to act. He followed me to the sky, keyblade ready, dogging my every move. I tried to shake him off, but he was moving in ever closer each second. However, now I knew my limits. I couldn't fly for long, so I nosedived as far away from Donald and Goofy as I could get. Fortunately, they were headed to the glowing circle, and didn't notice my descent.

Sora wasn't expecting it either, and continued upward for a moment before turning and following me. Mind growing weary again, I did a rolling land, and burst into the nearest house. It was empty. I searched for something that could help me escape.

_Shoot!_ I thought, having no success. However, I did find a glowing circle. Stepping on it, I found myself refreshed. _That should help… a bit._ _So I can run longer._ I burst out of the door, and ran straight into Sora.

"Watch it!" he exclaimed.

"Well sorry," I retorted, significantly less happy to see him than I was at first.

"So, who _are_ you, and why are you stalking around in a black cloak?" he demanded.

"I'm not stalking!" I argued.

"Then what _are_ you doing?" he asked, unconvinced.

"I'm – I'm…" I stuttered, not really sure what I was doing.

"Exactly. You're stalking us."

"I was _not_ stalking you!"

"You just said that. If you're not stalking us, what were you doing?"

"I was running from you."

"_Before_ Donald saw you."

"Trying to find out what 'Heartless' are."

"And I'm supposed to believe this _why_?"

"Why wouldn't you?"

"You look suspicious."

"Looks can be deceiving," I retorted.

"So you think that I'm supposed to believe that even though you _look_ suspicious, you mean no harm in the world."

"Nope. I mean, yes. You are."

"A-ha! Right there. You admitted it."

"Admitted what?" I asked evasively.

"That you were stalking us."

"When did I do that?"

"Just now."

"_Right._ And pigs fly?"

"What's that?" Sora said, pointing up.

"_Very_ funny."

"No really. Look up!"

I did, and was startled to see a dark figure falling from the sky. The glowing yellow eyes set it off. Taking out my keyblade, I quickly jumped up, meeting it. A quick slash finished it off.

"A keyblade?" asked Sora, startled.

I grunted.

"Roxas?" asked Sora.

"Nope, right here," said a new figure, standing translucent next to Sora. "You sure this guy's from the Organization? You there, what number are you?" he asked me.

"Number?" I replied.

"I'm XIII."

"Uh… okay…" I responded, dumbfounded.

"Sora, he's not from the Organization."

"Who are you, then?" Sora demanded.

"Who are _you_?" I asked back.

"I don't see why I should tell you."

"Then I don't know why I should tell you _my_ name, Sora."

"How do you know my name?"

"Your friends."

"They told you?"

"No, they told _you_. I listened," I responded. I suddenly noticed something. "Hey, where'd your friend go – Roxas?"

"Why does it matter to you? And that proves it – you were stalking."

"Whatever," I said, spinning around. Nobody there. Looking back at Sora, I said, "'cause I don't quite trust you. After all, you killed my shadow."

"Whad'ya mean, 'your shadow'?"

"The one you killed – the 'Heartless' with a 'keyblade'."

"That was _you_?"

"Yes, then _you_ just have to come along and kill him. _I_ was just having fun."

"Oh yeah? Well you shouldn't make it look as if it's trying to take over the world!"

"It was doing cartwheels and back flips!"

"Hey, Sora! Who's this?" asked someone new, who looked like a mouse that stood on two legs.

"Your Majesty!" replied Sora, who did a formal salute. "He's been making trouble, creating stuff that looks like Heartless and acting like he's from Organization XIII!"

"Am not! And anyways, who are Organization XIII?" I asked defiantly.

"Sora, I don't think he means any harm," said the 'King'. "And anyways, he's a chosen of the keyblade. Not everyone is like that, and they have to be good people."

_'Chosen'? That _definitely_ describes me – I made it myself! _"I was chosen?" I asked aloud.

"You have a keyblade," replied the King.

"But Mickey, he made a Heartless!" argued Sora.

"Like I said, it was my shadow! Like a puppet!" I retorted, taking a step forward.

"Guys! Please, settle down!" said Mickey.

"Sorry," said Sora, crestfallen, though we were still glaring daggers at each other.

"So who _are_ you people?" I asked, for I really didn't know.

"Well…" Sora began, "we're you local world-saving task force!" Sora said, pointing to himself.

"World-saving?" I wondered.

"Sora, Donald and Goofy have saved the worlds many times over – first as individuals, then collectively twice, mostly from the Heartless," King Mickey explained. "So you could say that they _are_ a world-saving task force. As to local, I'm not so sure."

"Saved the worlds… so there are many of them?" I inquired.

"Yes. There are many worlds, all connected by interlocking pathways through space," Sora explained, easing up a bit.

"Interesting… but how do you get around?" I asked, curious.

"I'll show you," Sora replied, going back inside the building. On the way, he asked, "King Mickey, what are _you_ here for?"

"I received reports about a certain keyblade-wielding Heartless."

"Sorry 'bout that." I mumbled, realizing just now how serious it could've been. "So what exactly _is_ a keyblade?"

"A keyblade is a sword that resembles a key. It can unlock any lock, as well as locking them. Including those to hearts, which is what the Heartless are after," Sora explained, stepping into the circle. I followed suit.

"So the Heartless want hearts… so they aren't Heartless?" I asked.

"No, the Heartless just want hearts," Sora responded. "Ready?" he asked.

"For what?" I started, but then Sora suddenly jumped into the air, and a force pulled me up with him. We zoomed upward, passing through the roof. Soon, I could barely see the building we had left from. A few moments later, we were inside a vessel of some sort.

"Hey, Donald! Hey Goofy!" They returned odd looks at me, but I was preoccupied.

"Whoa!" I gasped, amazed by all the gadgets and gizmos surrounding us. And the warm air. And the comfy-looking seats. And about a billion other things I didn't have time to explain, for the ship suddenly rocked violently, causing a flashy sign to say: WARNING! WARNING! SHIP UNDER ATTACK! Outside, a mass of ships were coming toward Traverse Town, and many were firing upon us.

"Heartless!" cursed Sora, taking the controls.

"They can fly?" I asked, startled.

"Some can fly, but they all can if they're in a ship," Sora responded, focused on maneuvering the ship about and returning fire.

I remained silent for a while, carefully studying the controls that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were inputting into the ship at lightning-fast speeds, so that maybe I could help with future encounters – assuming we survived this one.

In and out they weaved, smashing Heartless ships with a barrage of cannon fire, dodging blasts, all so fast that it was hard to take in all at once. Explosions, lights, and blurs filled the view screen. The trio in command barely seemed to look down at the controls, and yet they hit each button with precise accuracy, never missing a beat.

_Maybe they really _did_ save the world. Seeing this, it isn't too hard to believe,_ I thought.

In a small moment of peace, I could really see a significant decrease in the Heartless ranks. At least three quarters of the original force was destroyed, and all that were left were scarred by barely-dodged blasts. And in one great finale, they were reduced to smithereens.

"Whoa…" I muttered, awe-struck. One against one million. The one won. _What are the odds of that?_ I mentally asked myself. _Apparently, very high._

"Surprised?" asked Sora, with a grin.

"Yes," I stated simply. _And just yesterday, I was all alone on my island. Who coulda' guessed I'd be here today?_

"Hey, guys, how 'bout we go check on Leon and the gang?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy.

"Yeah! And get more ice cream!" agreed Donald.

"Ice cream? What's that?" I asked, having never heard of 'ice cream' before. Obviously. _Maybe its ice that's been creamed. Why would someone want creamed ice?_

"It's the greatest food ever invented!" hummed Donald.

_Food!?! People _eat_ ice? Why would someone want to eat ice? It's cold!_ I thought, remembering some… unpleasant experiences with ice back on my island.

Nobody must have noticed my disgust, for Donald continued to have that dreamy look on his face, and Sora and Goofy were too busy with the controls. Noticing something missing, I asked, "Where's King Mickey?"

Apparently also just noticing his absence, Sora replied, "Dunno. Don't worry about him, though – he can take care of himself."

"Ok," I said, but I still had my doubts. After all, he _was_ quite small.

The travelling through space was uneventful after that, until a bright object came into view.

"What's that?" I asked.

"That's Radiant Garden," Goofy answered. "That's where our friends Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, and the rest of them live."

"Neat," I replied halfheartedly, for I had no idea who the heck these people are.

As we neared the planet, I saw some interesting things, including what appeared to be the ruins of a castle with houses surrounding it. Soon, we came to a stop.

"Okay, we're going down," Sora told us. Immediately after he said that, I could feel myself warping. The feeling was unnerving, to an extent.

An unexpected wrenching pain hit me in the stomach. We were all still in the ship.

"What happened?" asked Donald alarmed.

"I don't know!" replied Sora, looking around wildly. All of the systems were shutting down, and fast. Suddenly, the ship rocked violently.

"What are they?" I asked, pointing outside to a fleet of white ships.

"Uh-oh! It looks like they're Nobodies!" Goofy observed.

"And Heartless!" I added, looking the other way. We were completely surrounded on all sides, with no chance of escaping, except by going down. "What's that?" I asked, pointing at a dark cloud forming over Radiant Garden.

"Oh no! The Heartless have Radiant Garden!" Sora said, wide-eyed. "We have to-"

But he never was able to finish speaking, for the ship rocked much more violently than before, throwing everyone off their feet. Everything went dark.


	3. Symphonia

"Unnh…" I moaned, pain filling my body. I was lying on cold, hard ground, covered in bruises. I got up.

_What happened?_ I asked myself. _Where am I? We were in the gummi ship, then we got attacked… is this Radiant Garden?_ I looked around. No giant castle, no ruins, no blue fields to be seen. _Guess not._

I looked around. I was in the middle of a forest, on what appeared to be a well-used path. _I wonder where it goes._ I began following it, for I had nothing better to do.

Soon, I came upon a two-story wooden house. It had a small bridge going over a stream that ran through the path, and a large grave off to the side that had flowers lying in front of it. Suddenly, a loud _'CRASH!'_ came from the house. I ran up to the door and knocked.

"Hello?" I said, seeing if anyone was home. A few moments later, a squat man came out.

"Yes?" he asked with an accent. Looking inside, I saw that things were a mess.

"What happened? I heard a crash," I responded.

"I was attacked by those strange creatures that have been roaming about," he said.

"Strange creatures?"

"Aye. There have been some monsters roaming about of the likes nobody's seen before. They're black as night, and have little glowing yellow eyes,"

"Heartless!" I muttered.

"And just in time too, because I was getting ready to go to the Giant Kharlan Tree. But with these things about nowadays, I'm not sure I could make the trip. By the way, I'm Dirk," he said, extending his hand out.

"I'm Enri," I told him, shaking his hand. "If you wanted to go there, I could escort you."

"It'd be much appreciated, lad. How much?" he asked.

"Free of charge."

"It's a deal, then."

"Okay, when do we start?"

"As soon as I get my stuff together," Dirk responded, running back inside. I waited for around a minute until he came back out, carrying a large backpack with all sorts of odd things, including an anvil.

"You must be pretty strong, to carry that all around," I said.

"Well I'm a dwarf," Dirk told me, "it runs in my blood."

_A dwarf?_"I see. Well, if that's all, let's be on our way."

We walked for a while back through the forest, until we came upon the ruins of a small village.

"Whoa… what happened here?" I asked.

"It's those creatures. When they came, everyone here fled, trying to find protection in larger cities."

"Oh…" I responded.

After that, we headed south, and were soon in a large plain, and waiting for us was a small platoon of Heartless.

"Wait here," I told Dirk, and charged forward. Right before I reached them, I took out my keyblade, and slashed, hitting one. One of the others popped up out of the ground behind me, and I flipped over it, hitting it as I was directly above it. I knocked it up into the air, met it there, and slammed it back down into another, killing them both and releasing hearts up into the air. I directed my fall onto another, where I kicked it up into the air and off into the distance. The last one was defeated with a quick blow.

"There," I said.

"Thank you," Dirk said. Then, seeing my keyblade, he said, "That's an interesting sword you're carrying. Mind if I have a look at it?"

"Sure," I said, handing it to him.

He examined it closely. "Hmm… this is an interesting material it's made of. What is it?"

"Honestly, I don't really know," I told him.

"It's different from anything I've ever seen. Do you know why it resembles a key?"

"Well… not really."

"Well, it works. Best not complain, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Let's get moving. I want to be able to get to Ossa Trail before nightfall."

"Okay," I said. _Ossa Trail?_

We followed the road for a long time, passing by what resembled a church, until, nearing nightfall, we came to a trail leading up a mountain.

"This is Ossa Trail," Dirk notified me.

"Is this the only way over?" I asked.

"The only way that _we _can get over."

"Darn." My feet were aching, and I was longing for a break.

"Don't worry; we'll be staying here for the night."

_THANK YOU!!!_ "Okay." Dirk took off his enormous backpack, and began rummaging around inside it. Soon, we began pitching a tent. As soon as that was done, we got inside and slept.

I don't know what time it was when I woke up, but it was still dark out. Unable to get back to sleep, I went out. _The stars are different than the ones on my island,_ I observed. _At least they look the same, even if they're different._

I continued watching the stars, until I began getting drowsy. Suddenly a rustle in the bushes startled me out of sleep. I got up, and looked for the source. Unable to find it, I began going back into the tent – and almost ran straight into a Heartless.

"Ah!" I yelled, hitting it with my keyblade. Soon, more joined it, surrounding the tent.

"Take this!" I exclaimed, hitting four or five with one strike. I slashed and stabbed at them, but more kept on coming. "Arrg! Why do they keep coming?" In a last-ditch effort, I gathered my remaining energy, and released it in a final blast, sending light energy everywhere.

It didn't work. They kept coming and coming, without end. I barely had a fighting chance anymore, with barely any energy to keep going. Just when I thought all hope was lost, eight strangers ran in to help me. I knelt, exhausted. Still wanting to help, I gathered whatever scraps of energy I had left within me, and got up.

With nine people, the fighting was a lot easier. It didn't take long for all of the Heartless to be defeated, leaving only their glowing hears floating up to the sky.

"Thanks," I panted, exhausted all over again.

"Don't mention it," replied a boy around my age (in the teens) who wore a red shirt, black pants, and wielded twin swords – one a glowing blue, and the other a fire-red.

"What are these things?" asked another, a girl about the same age who wore a purple kimono, and was holding a deck of cards with odd pictures on them.

"They're called Heartless," I told them. "I don't know why, just that they go around stealing people's hearts. I don't know why, just that they do. Who are you guys?" I asked out of curiosity.

"I'm Lloyd. And you are…?" he asked in return. However, before I got to respond, Dirk burst out of the tent.

"Lloyd! How're you doing?" he asked.

"Dad! I've been great. How about you?"

"I've been great, son," Dirk replied.

"So what're you doing around here?" Lloyd asked, curious.

"I've wanted to go to the Great Kharlan Tree for a while, so I've finally got around to it."

"Okay, that works," Lloyd responded.

"Dirk, are you sure that it's safe for someone like you to be travelling at times like this?" asked another person, a girl with white hair, wearing odd-looking orange clothes, and wielding a staff.

"As safe as it is for you, Raine. And besides, I've got him to protect me," Dirk replied, pointing at me. I blushed, for after the battle, I had all but collapsed of exhaustion.

"You never did tell me your name," said Lloyd.

"Right. I'm Enri," I panted. "Thanks for… helping out."

"Ah, no problem."

At this point, I couldn't stay awake any longer, and sleep overtook me.


End file.
